On the issue of stability of Wall Street CEOs, while hoping for cultural changes in the financial sector

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to open up dialogue between several popular non-fiction books written on Lehman Brothers – and its chief executive officer (CEO) Dick Fuld in particular – and the academic literature on leadership and organizational culture.

Design/methodology/approach

Vicky Ward’s book The Devil’s Casino is examined closely to understand the influence of the bank’s CEO on the organizational culture.

Findings

A notable instance of coupling is highly recurrent in the book, linking the personality of Dick Fuld with his top management team and Lehman Brothers’ employees.

Originality/value

Focusing on the CEO’s personality, this article engages with the academic literature allowing for a distinct problematization of the issue, and a potential resolution: the importance of changes in leadership to trigger an evolution in Wall Street’s culture.

Citation

Bazin, Y. (2015), "On the issue of stability of Wall Street CEOs, while hoping for cultural changes in the financial sector", Society and Business Review, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 91-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-12-2014-0057